Employment in Tunisia: What Do We Know? What is the Way Forward?

On 10 of April, UNU-WIDER and the African Development Bank organized a workshop on 'Employment in Tunisia: What Do We Know? What is the Way Forward?'. The purpose of this one-day workshop was to bring together academics and policy-makers in Tunisia and establish the research and policy priorities on employment for the country. It also aimed to establish and strengthen partnerships between researchers and policy-makers in the country.

UNU-WIDER and the African Development Bank organized a workshop on 'Employment in Tunisia: What Do We Know? What is the Way Forward?'.

The workshop was attended by government officials from the Ministry of Employment, the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and the National Institute of Statistics, academics from a range of research and higher education institutions, as well as representatives from donor agencies. Academics gave presentations on topics ranging from youth unemployment to higher education reform, after which they engaged in policy-oriented discussions with policy-makers during working groups organized during the workshop.

Government officials left at the end of the day with concrete policy recommendations on higher education reform, youth entrepreneurship, labour market flexibility, and private sector competitiveness. The workshop also created a network of researchers and policy-makers working on the issue of employment. Looking to the future, government officials expressed their desire for a closer collaboration between government and the academic community, so that policy can be made in a truly participatory and evidence-based manner.

Imed Drine, Research Fellow at UNU-WIDER, co-organized and presented at this event, and will report on the outcomes in the WIDERAngle later this spring.